Spreading Sunshine
Inspiration to brighten your day
 |
Home | |
|
Books & Courses | |
|
Articles | |
|
Newsletter | |
|
Meet Laurie | |
|---|
| NAVIGATE: |
|
|---|
|
Spreading Sunshine A free, monthly e-newsletter to brighten your day and make you smile! Issue 3, February 14, 2007 Join Us! Welcome! By receiving this newsletter, you are part of a group of people making their dreams come true. If you like what you read, please forward this message to your friends and family, and invite them to join us too! Click here to subscribe to Spreading Sunshine now! Sea Lions Celebrate © 2007 Laurie Smith As we watched from the shore, I was overwhelmed by the thousands of birds flocking to feast on spawning herring and salmon, seasonal specialties. The bay was a feeding frenzy. Even more tremendous to me were the sea lions, leaping out of the air in schools of near twenty. Some with bellies full floated on their backs, flippers wiping whispers after a delicious meal. It was a special time of year, and the sea creatures were celebrating. Venturing out onto the local fishing pier for a closer view, we were surprised to hear a slightly different perspective. “Darned sea lions!” one fisherman commented, describing everything he would like to do to get rid of them. “They’re eating all the fish, so we can’t catch anything!” I couldn’t help but laughing when I heard his comments. What to me are some of the greatest animals on earth—even a mere glimpse of one feels like a gift, one of the reasons I fell in love with this area so long ago—to another is a curse! Everything in life has its “good” and “bad,” I suppose. It’s up to us which viewpoint we choose to go with. Since our move, I have been become increasingly aware of how all of us are reporters, like it or not. “People in California are so nice!” has been my typical news story since our arrival. When I meet people who are less-than-nice, however, my report becomes something else entirely. With each story we tell, we have complete choice regarding the perspective we take, the headline we use, and the conclusions we encourage others and ourselves to make about the world. So, with this in mind and with the belief that what we focus on grows…allow me to introduce the world to you! According to this month’s news, cancer rates are dropping, volunteerism is on the rise, nature continues to reveal wonders beyond anything we have yet conceived, strangers are saving each other, lost children and lovers are being found, and sea lions are wonderful! ;-) What a marvelous place it is! Readers Report Last month’s message about the egret seemed to resonate with many of you. Thank you for sharing! Check out my blog at www.soulwisdom.blogspot.com for an update and photo. The egret returned! “I was thinking about your story about that bird and it being a sign…It's amazing how sometimes, when you are truly in need, maybe it doesn't happen immediately, but very shortly thereafter, it's almost like you have sent out signals, and people just appear to help you.” -Amanda Gallagher “We've often had egrets in our backyard and have never had the eye contact or length of time which you had. Interesting to remember and think of it as an opportunity for a meditative experience.” -Sheila Finklestein (Visit Sheila at http://www.sheilafinkelstein.com/. Check out one of her beautiful egret photos of here.) “That egret....amazing…truly amazing. Isn't there this mysterious connection? …I can't wait for the sunshine to come next month.” -Hugh Smith |
|
Good News! Here are just some of the good news stories that were released this past month. Click on the headlines to link to the original news stories. Enjoy! In honor of Valentines Day, here’s one worth repeating. Archaeologists digging at a Neolithic site near Mantova, Italy, recently discovered skeletons of what appeared to be a young man and woman in an embrace, buried like this more than 5,000 to 6,000 years ago. Love’s power really is everlasting! For the second year in a row in 2004, U.S. cancer rates dropped. The drop in 2003 was the first recorded drop in cancer deaths in more than 70 years. While there is room for improvement with more preventative care and better lifestyle choices, The San Francisco Chronicle reported the news as “cause for celebration.” Dr. Margaret Tempero, deputy director of the UCSF Comprehensive Cancer Center said, “The data that’s coming out is very, very powerful. People need to understand that we’re winning this war.” William "Al" Slaughter, a Washington D.C. man was walking along the docks near his houseboat at 10:30 p.m., when he slipped in his new dress shoes and fell in the Washington channel. Due to the cold, 38-degree water, his muscles quickly became weak and he wasn’t able to hoist himself out. He saw a few men walking on the other side of a tall, iron fence and called out for help. Assisted by the others, Floyd Lipscomb, who was homeless, climbed over the seven-foot fence and grabbed onto Lipscomb. Unable to pull him out by himself, he said, “You're not going to die tonight. I'm going to hold on to you. I got you.” He kept his promise while the other two men, also homeless, notified the police. "It was a miracle that those guys would come over the fence to help," Slaughter said. "It was a miracle that they were even there." What a great reminder how powerful we each are! Twenty-nine percent of U.S. adults were volunteering in 2005, a record 30-year high according to a report recently released by the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS). Older teens more than doubled their volunteering rate since 1989 from 13 percent to 28 percent. I was struck with how important it is to continue educating our kids to care for others. Lots of little ripples in the water do make a difference! Humans recently got a glimpse of a “living fossil”--the incredibly-eerie-looking Frilled Shark that typically lives 2,000 feet below the sea and has rarely been seen. The animal was spotted by a Japanese fisherman and taken to the Awashima Marine Park in Shizuoka, south of Tokyo. Although the shark’s death shortly after capture might seem like “bad” news—it is believed the reason it came to the surface in the first place was because of ill health. What a gift we’ve been given to see this rare creature. We never know what lies beneath one’s surface! Click HERE to see a video. On a personal note, I couldn’t help but feel a thrill of excitement when I saw that both Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama are running for president. When I was nine years old, I did a school report on Victoria Woodhull, the first woman to run for president in 1872. She was a candidate at a time when most U.S. women were not yet legally allowed to vote, and African Americans had just been freed from slavery. Regardless of our individual politics, let’s celebrate how far we’ve come! Like many people, I have been overwhelmed by the rescue story of kidnapping survivors William “Ben” Ownby, age 13, and Shawn Hornbeck, age 15. How wonderful that both boys are alive and back with their families. A taxi driver in New York City tracked down and returned a black bag containing 31 diamond rings to a passenger who had left the bag in his car’s trunk. The Associated Press reported that Osman Chowdhury, a soft-spoken native of Bangladesh said, “I'm a hard worker. I enjoy my life. I'm satisfied. I'm not going to take someone else's money or property to make me rich. I don't want it that way….When I find something left in my cab, and I can return it to the owner, I feel very happy. I feel proud." What a great reminder that most people really are trustworthy and good! Yummy Quotes “It is possible to see that our true enemies are hate, fear, despair, and especially wrong perceptions. Human beings are not our enemies.” -Thich Nhat Hanh “What you love is a sign from your higher self of what you are to do.” -Sanaya Roman “For one human being to love another: that is perhaps the most difficult of our tasks; the ultimate, the last test and proof, the work for which all other work is but preparation.” -Rainer Maria Rilke And, something that really hits home for me this month: “No matter how weird life feels, we still need to do the laundry.” -Rosie Finn, Plants & Planets Happy Valentine’s Day! As we celebrate love this month, do something special for yourself as well as those you care about. Treat yourself by taking time for a loved hobby, a bubble bath, a nature walk, a massage, making that doctor’s appointment, exercising, or calling someone who makes you feel good each time you do. You might be surprised at how easy it is to give back, and how passionate your love becomes for others and the world after you’ve first taken care of you! As I write this issue, I’d like to send some especially warm sunshine to those in the northeast U.S. and the Midwest, both currently in a deep freeze. As you read this, may you be snuggled in a warm blanket, a mug of hot goodness by your side! I love to hear from readers. Please email me at lauriesmith@comcast.net with your feedback and comments. For more inspiration, check out the new articles on my website www.lauriesmith.com and blog www.soulwisdom.blogspot.com. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to share my soul! Wishing you miracles, Laurie Smith Visit me at: http://www.lauriesmith.com Subscription Information If you like what you read, please forward this newsletter to a friend! To receive this monthly newsletter, click here to subscribe to Spreading Sunshine now! I am extremely committed to privacy and simplifying life. You received this newsletter only because you have subscribed or someone close to you thought you might enjoy it. If you would like to be removed from our subscription list, click here to unsubscribe to Spreading Sunshine. Have a happy day! All information in this email is copyrighted © 2007 Laurie Smith. All rights reserved.
|
|
|